Dar Gareau-Levy “Radical Acceptance and the Stigma of Difference”
Unitarian Universalism has always been a welcoming faith. We spread the word that diversity is more than welcome in our church. But now that those doors have opened and we are being taken up on our offer, how well are we doing at integrating those differences? Sometimes it’s easier to be accepting of those who are very different from ourselves than those we call our own people, simply because these other people’s lives don’t overlap much with ours.
Join us as we explore how we can make that transition from ‘Radical Hospitality’, to ‘Radical Acceptance’ with the least amount of collateral damage.
Dar grew up in Ketch Harbour, a small rural town in Nova Scotia. Got a Bachelor of Fine Art at the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design, and lived for 8 years in Wittenburg Nova Scotia with her partner, raising sheep and growing their own organic veggies. While in Nova Scotia, Dar worked in a fish plant, in an auto body shop, in a restaurant kitchen, as a chambermaid, and as a light-table artist for a small printing company.Here in Victoria Dar created her own business, Get It Done Yard Maintenance and Odd Jobs, where she finally got to put into practice her own principle of fair and honest work for honest pay without the middle man.
Dar writes: I’m no stranger to the stigma of difference and the difficulty of fitting in. As a non-binary transgender, a lesbian, an educated person from a working class background, and someone who is highly emotionally sensitive, I’ve had plenty of opportunity to think deeply about these things, and from the moment I stepped into a UU church and heard the message of love and acceptance I knew I had a purpose in life.
** Tickets for the play “What does reconciliation mean to YOU? – šxʷʔam̓ət (home)” will be available for sale this Sunday for $15. For more details, or to purchase tickets online for $17, visit theatreforliving.com/present_work/sxwPamet/itinerary.html. This Victoria production is sponsored in part by First Unitarian Church of Victoria.
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